[UA] Creepy Paramedic

[Scott Dorward]

Once again, a first aid course has proved to be a fine source of Unknown
Armies inspiration.  My instructor for this one was an ambulance
technician who works in the Midlands, and he recounted a number of
anecdotes throughout the course.  One in particular set my UA sense off.

Apparently he and a colleague responded to an incident and found another
ambulance already in attendance.  This other ambulance was manned by a
single paramedic, a volunteer like themselves.  My instructor mentioned
that he thought there was something a little off about the paramedic, but
couldn't put his finger on it immediately.  His partner had similar doubts
and, as they were working, asked the paramedic what courses he'd attended.
 The paramedic rattled off a list of qualifications, so the partner asked
him who had been the instructor on his most recent course.  This led to a
quick change of subject, which set off alarm bells.

To cut a long story short, the apparent paramedic was nothing of the sort.
 He had printed out a bunch of fake certificates, painted a van to look
like an ambulance, put official-looking decals on it and had bought
himself a paramedic's uniform off eBay.  It was this last part that had
been nagging at my instructor, as the uniform was fresh out of the packet
and still had folds in it.

The more I thought about this, the more freaked out I was.  What makes
someone get up in the morning and think, "I'm going to go pretend to be a
paramedic"?  This man had an emergency radio scanner, and was driving out
to emergencies, all for his own private reasons.  How creepy is that?

The worst part was the little coda that the instructor threw in: "This was
the first time I'd heard about this happening in the UK, but apparently
it's quite common in the US".

*shudder*

- Scott

-- 
"I am perplexed."
  - Aleister Crowley's last words